les40

8th November 2012, 13:57

I would like to be enlightened on a question of grammar concerning the apostrophe.
I understand fully when one needs to be inserted when one talks about something belonging to the noun or pronoun.
For example: Les is going to Paul's house today
This is where the apostophe is placed correctly between the 'l' and the 's' at the end of Paul's.
However, I tend to get confused when it reads the other way round because I have seen examples of both the following and don't know which is the grammatically correct version or are both correct.

Example 1 - Paul is going to Les's house today

Example 2 - Paul is going to Les' house today

It seems that when the pronoun finishes with 'S' as in 'Les' sometimes an extra 'S' is added after the apostrophe and sometimes it's omitted.

Are both correct or is one wrong, or is there a qualifying situation for each to be correct in their own right.

chrise

8th November 2012, 14:05

Hi les
It really irritates me when I see, for example "Hank Williams' guitar". This mean a guitar belonging to more than one "Hank William". I know it looks ugly, but the extra "S" should always be added to a name ending in "S". For example, Chris's opinion, rather than Chris' opinion! The trailing apostrophe is used for plural words ending in "S" - for example "the Romans' roads".

rambler

8th November 2012, 14:09

You've opened a right can of worms there, Les! It really boils down to 'house style' or which you prefer. I think most people would write 'Les's' but then there's a damn great sign reading 'St Thomas' Hospital' which looks wrong to most people.

les40

aristophanes

8th November 2012, 14:26

In current American usage the possessive must be formed with 's when the word ends with s, and I think that this consistency prevents a lot of confusion. There may be a couple of exceptions that arise from long tradition, a notable one being "Jesus'"- "for Jesus' sake", for example.
Does anyone know if there's a term for what you might call a double possessive? Say you have a school named St. John's, and you're referring to its basketball team. Do you write (or say) St. John's's, which would technically be proper, or just say "What the heck" and let it go? I'm all for clarity. It may seem awkward, but I'd use two apostrophes.